The elite race of the inaugural Run Rabbit Run 100 kicks off at 1 pm Friday afternoon local time (MDT) with $40,000 on the line. We’ll be livecasting the event on iRunFar’s Twitter feed. We’ll also be combining our twitter feed with other possible news sources and encouraging all of you to join the discussion in the CoverItLive window below.

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619219 Responseshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.irunfar.com%2F2012%2F09%2F2012-run-rabbit-run-100-live-coverage.html2012+Run+Rabbit+Run+100+Live+Coverage2012-09-13+18%3A00%3A29Bryon+Powellhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.irunfar.com%2F%3Fp%3D6192 to “2012 Run Rabbit Run 100 Live Coverage”

With all the effort and energy it takes to run a 100 miles. This wait must be killing these guys. Most races one is able to wake up and go to the start line. I think this also adds a different variable as well since the runners will have been awake for several hours. This really will add to the challenge as night time approaches as they will have less sleep then normal. Not that running a 100 miles is normal haha.

As someone who runs mountain ultras in Europe, I am accustomed to a range of start times. A few examples:

Ultra Trail Serra de Tramuntana, Mallorca (110k) starts at midnight.

UTMB starts at 6.30 pm (7.00 pm this year!)

And many attempts on England's classic Bob Graham Round, where contenders choose their own start time, kick off around midnight/1.00 am.

In the case of the BG, this is to have runners passing over "easier" ground in the dark with more technical sections run in daylight.

Racing at night, admittedly at a slower pace, is a huge attraction for me, as is seeing if I can cope with the weird things the body wants to do in the hours between 3-5.00 am in particular. All adds to the challenge.

I say Wolfe wins this race…he will get a lead and then just keep building it. I think it's interesting that Miguel is wearing full on running shoes? I thought all these guys ran in sandals (or maybe i read it somehwere).

As far as drug testing taking place, I don't know, but if there isn't, then I can give a reason or two as to why not. First, this race isn't sanctioned by any governing body. Second, there are no higher-ups the r.d. has to answer to – it's his call whether or not he wants money winners, or anyone in the race, to get drug tested.

Those are but a couple reasons as to "why not", if that is, in fact, the case.

I've never heard anything about PED use in ultras, other than Comrades, but that seems to be a different type of race. Is drug testing even necessary right now? Will people use drugs just because of the still meager purses in ultrarunning? The cost of the drugs would probably come close to amount of the cash prizes.

The cost of the drugs would FAR EXCEED the purses. With the exception of this race, very few prizes in the ultra world even cover normal travel and accommodation expenses. There is no "Lance" story here.

Do people honestly think it's the racers' fault that they all went off course? What a joke. This race should've focused on getting the course down before attempting to artificially cement themselves as a championship event. If a race director can't mark the course correctly, he has no business putting on a race. At the very least, I'm sure that I'll never be giving these guys my hard earned money. By the way, it's not hard at all to properly mark a course. At this point, with so many top competitors out of the race on both the men's and women's side due to problems caused solely by whoever marked the course, I honestly don't even care who wins anymore.

Yes, Collin. Most people who have ever run a mountain ultra trail run do think that it was ultimately the runner's fault for going off course. That's that nature of the sport and the participants in general. We tend to take responsibility for ourselves when we run in the mountains. How many runner didn't go off course?

This race was run on public land, and the course is still open to the public before and during the race. The Bear 100 course last year was vandalized. Ambassadors from the ATV community took down flagging during the race and delivered them to the aid station saying, "Here's your garbage." If the course is overly marked in an obnoxious way, it's more likely to get vandalized.

If you want a course that is clearly marked with no chance of getting off course, stick to the city and run the roads, or better yet, an indoor track. I think the race looks exciting and fun, and if I don't get in the Wasatch 100, I'm going to run the RR100. As a slow runner, I love that fact that I could get to see the fast runners at the end. I would get to be a participant and a spectator at the same time.

Responsibility ultimately lies in both the hands of the race directors to mark the course in the manner they say they will and then in the hands of the runners to stay on said course.

Let's all do our best to reserve judgment against the RRR100 as an entity until the race directors and runners have had a chance to compare field notes. Armchair judgements and finger pointing on what did or didn't go down out on the course by people in front of computer screens aren't necessarily productive.

I've done many many trail races in my time and I have never attended a race where more than one or two people went off course when it was adequately marked. We're not talking about some random back of the pack nobodies that got lost. These were elite people that have tons and tons of experience following trails. Did anyone even bother to see why Sandi Nypaver got lost? She followed trail markings, which took her off course! The course was designed to go the same way twice, but split off in different directions at various points and they didn't even bother to mark which way to go which time. I'm sorry, but the fact that a so-called championship race can be so poorly organized that a course split wasn't marked is a big part of why shorter distance road runners don't take this sport seriously what-so-ever. How can you have a top-level competition if a large number of top-level runners are getting lost on course? As Sandi wrote, "I wish the people who marked the course/ RDs would think about how much some people sacrifice to do (and pay for) the race." Great job Karl, but a major shame on the organizers.

First things first, awesome victory for Karl. The dude totally deserves it and has been an awesome ambassador for the sport.

Overall, I feel the whole RRR race was a disappointment. Not at all from the race directors or management, but from the "elite" racers themselves. Over the last few years, all we have heard about was the need for a championship race with prize money. How we need to legitimize the sport so the "elites" can make a living. Finally a race director makes and effort to put together a legitimate race that goes five deep and hardly anyone shows up. Sure a few people got lost and the race had some first time issues, but overall only a handful of super fast 100 milers showed up for the men and only 4 women (should) finish! I guess I would have expected a little more support from those who really want to make a living from the sport of ultrarunning. If I was the race director for RRR I would give serious thought to continuing the dual 100 miler and prize money format. It has to be a ton of work.

Thanks for the comment. Compare the fields (results here: http://www.sportstats.ca/displayResults.xhtml?rac… of the TNF Endurance Challenge 50 in 2008, its inaugural year, with that of this year's RRR100 field. As we know, TNFEC was really the first ultramarathon on US soil to offer up a real volume of cash, and they did so for the first time that year.

While there were certainly far, far more high-level finishers at the 2008 TNFEC 50 than there will be at the 2012 RRR100, I think that a large portion of this difference maybe attributed to the RRR being a 100-mile race. 100 milers are buggers, and there will always be field destruction in this distance.

Now, as for the sport growth and development that's occurred between then and now, we know our sport is exploding. That probably means that, statistically-speaking, there should be more high-level athletes out there today than four years ago who could attend the RRR100. Is this the case? I wish my data-loving friend, Brendan Trimboli, would analyze these data sets and tell us. :)

Subjective assessment? There were more high-level athletes at San Francisco almost four years ago than there are in Steamboat this weekend. But the difference isn't monumental.

It's hard. These guys and gals are pulled in so many directions, to truly big races attracting big talent around the world, all year long. Championship races everywhere, de-facto championships for the competition that shows up, nevermind the intrinsic draws runners have to lesser-known races with insane scenery/verticality/technicality/whatever lights their hearts afire. Plus, we're talking about ultrarunning, and how many races can one person really do in a calendar year?

I would love to hear from the ladies and guys who are competing at the top on what you think of the weekend's competition, what other races out there draw you in, and why.

I think you hit on a key point with the global race schedule being what it is. UTMB not too long ago, a string of cool races before that, UROC coming up, etc. Lizzy's abilities are difficult for an average runner like me to comprehend. Same for other top runners, but there must be limits. Elites will set priorities. It isn't just the money – it is how this race fits in with other season goals, scheduling, sponsor needs, so many other factors.

I think race organizers should do what they think will work and "the market" will sort it out. In the meantime, more opportunities for runners. That is not a bad thing, unless fans insist on only getting excited by head-to-head match-ups between their favorites. Personally, I enjoy (vicariously) all these events.

BTW, we weren't able to comment well before you guys chose to turn off reader comments. Not sure what happened, but shortly after Big K won, it went into "standby mode" and the section for live comments went away. Great reporting, iRunFar! Always enjoy your hard work.

I've heard from one of my friends who was out there, that the RD before the race was not helpul and that the prerace briefing failed to discuss anything about the course. I could discuss more about the RD based on what I was told, but I wasn't there, so I don't want to throw stones.